After sustaining an ankle fracture early last Saturday against last year’s champions, Guglielmo Vicario, the goalkeeper for Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur, will now be out for months, not weeks, after his successful surgery. This will sadly leave him out for nearly three months, in fact.

Guglielmo Vicario played on his fractured foot for sixty minutes. After being checked by medical, he limped back to his net, not knowing the risk. He made some late saves against Erling Haaland, a top tier striker in the Premier League. Although his effort was excellent, it might have been a better decision to step off the field to not deepen his later found ankle injury. 

Vicario has been an outstanding goalie and was a top-five goalie in and outside the Premier League, making brilliant saves against some big names such as Erling Hallaand, a Norwegian star. He has a 25% clean sheet status and a 69% save percentage. “He was playing well, definitely on an upward trajectory,” said Pentucket varsity player Alex Denley.

He also played in the Euros for the Italian National team. This is good for a goalkeeper at his age, and once he cements himself as a top-class goalkeeper the next thing is to stay healthy. Although the injury was not his fault, it could leave the teams with their backs to the wall during this upcoming transfer window.

Knowing now that Vicario will be out for the entirety of December, what will Tottenham do? Sign or loan a new keeper? Or leave it in the hands of 36-year-old Fraser Forster, the backup keeper? 

As of now, Forster will have to play until January, locking him into a first-team position for the time being. He showed off his skill against Roma last Thursday and Fulham on Saturday. Even with three goals behind him between each game, he played well for his first in a long time start in the Premier League. It’s clear he’s been putting in effort, waiting for an opportunity such as this one to open up.

Still, what will Tottenham do? Ange Postecoglou (Tottenham head coach) said that Forster is a strong character in the group and there’s no need to sign a free agent or other in the upcoming transfer window. 

But that begs the question: what if Forster gets hurt? Although it is highly unlikely, he is the last keeper in the Europa League squad, and it would be a devastating loss. As of now, however, Tottenham shows no interest in signing any new keeper and will “knock on wood” in hopes that nothing else goes wrong.